Evolution is slow in the guitar universe.
And when you consider how many
50-year-old instruments—or even
150-year-old
instruments—have come to represent
design “perfection,” you can understand
why. But while guitar purists may look
askance at any attempt to improve the
dread, the OM, the Les Paul, or the
Telecaster, many engineering minds still
consider the 6-string a blank slate calling
out for revision.
Nashville-based Cory Batson is clearly of
this more irreverent school. A woodworker
and student of electrical engineering,
Batson is also a self-trained luthier. And he’s
nabbed the attention of players such as Phil
Keaggy and fingerstyle wiz Don Ross with
guitars distinguished by side soundports,
truss bracing, and cantilevered fretboards.
With the help of his woodworking
brother and business partner, Grant Batson,
Cory has built Batson Guitars into one
of the more respected new acoustic guitar
companies in a Nashville music community
that can be wary of innovation. Batson guitars
have never been inexpensive, however.
Though it’s not cheap, the brothers’ latest
model, the handbuilt No. 5, is an effort to
make their offerings more affordable.
The Sum of Changes
The mahogany-and-spruce No. 5 we
received for review is evidence that Batson
hasn’t taken any shortcuts on the innovations
that have made their instruments special
from the beginning. The guitar’s bridge
looks like it was inspired by the organic
shapes in ’70s furniture design, with fluid
curves that are both comfortable for fingerstyle
playing and practical—adding mass
and structural reinforcement where the
strings pass through the bridge from saddle
to tailpiece.
Our No. 5 is built around a traditional
grand concert-style body profile. But similarities
to any cookie-cutter version of that
style end there. The most overt difference
is the lack of a center soundhole. Though
this is more common on boutique guitars
than it used to be, it still gives the No. 5 an
oddly minimalist visage that takes a minute
or two to adjust to.
There’s also an architectural bent to the
Batson’s design. The cantilevered fretboard,
which hovers free of contact with the top
past the 14th fret, evokes some of the more
intriguing bridges on modern roadways, as
does the portion of the guitar’s bridge that
resides behind the saddle. Similarly, the
ShorTail tailpiece is suspended above the
soundboard by a space the width of a few
business cards.
The architectural and engineering influence
is even more apparent when you peek
through the oval soundport on the upper
treble bout. Rather than Martin-style X
or A bracing, you’ll find that the top is
undergirded with a grid of smaller, diamond-
shaped trusses that resemble bracing
used by some modern classical builders.
According to Batson, this signature lattice
bracing is more flexible and responsive, giving
the guitar a greater dynamic range.
Batson’s effort to make the No. 5 more
affordable involves a few aesthetic sacrifices,
depending on your view of such things.
The choice of materials is still top-shelf,
but the luxurious finish seen on pricier
Batsons is replaced here by an ultra-thin
satin finish that seems a little ordinary for a
guitar in this price range. Inside our review
model, there were a few errant spots of glue
and some bracing joints that weren’t quite
flush—factors that don’t affect sound or
playability but that are somewhat surprising
given the price. Elsewhere, however, fit and
finish were superb to flawless.
Rumbling, Ringing, Resonant
If you’ve never played an acoustic with a
soundport, your first experience can make
your ears do a double take. In general, the
guitar will sound louder and, quite literally,
more in your face. The No. 5 is no
exception, and the difference can require
compensating adjustments to pick attack
and touch dynamics. Once you do so, it’s
plain that the No. 5 is a very sensitive and
articulate instrument.
As the lack of pick guard might suggest,
it works best as a fingerstyle guitar.
The softer tones of the mahogany back and
sides mean you might have to put a little
more oomph behind your picking to get a
really kicking midrange. But bass and treble
notes resonate and ring with definition and
sustain—the guitar truly captures the best
warm and bright qualities of the mahogany-and-
spruce combination.
Fingerstyle players who play in alternate
tunings with dropped fifth and sixth strings
will discover an expansive range of color
and dynamics to work with in the No. 5.
The guitar has an impressive bass presence
in standard tuning. Tuning down to D and
even C, however, makes the No. 5 growl
like a lion. This is where you sense that
Batson’s bracing, cantilevered fretboard, and
tailpiece—all designed to maximize vibration—
really pay sonic dividends. Sustain
and overtone content were impressive in
DADGAD and C–G–C–F–A–D, and
when I wobbled the neck a little here and
there, it made a single chord sound wondrously
colorful and multidimensional.
The No. 5 feels especially fast and playable
when detuned. Hammer-ons on the
sixth string brim with a deep, funky, almost
baritone-like quality, and peppering lazy
legato moves with sitar-style bends was
perfect accompaniment for the big, droning
bass notes. However, the Batson feels slinky
in standard tuning, too. While I wasn’t pulling
off full-step bends with the same ease
I would with a lightly strung Les Paul, I
was still able to play some pretty expressive
blues runs. Batson claims this is because the
extra string length behind the bridge makes
a given string gauge feel lighter.
If there’s one the thing the Batson is less
than ideal for, it might be the heavy strumming
that tends to find a singer-songwriter
type opting for a big dreadnought. The
Batson is loud and bossy enough for the
job if you want it to be—and it also retains
a lot of its low-end character—but heavier
strumming can obscure the overtone minutiae
and low-end detail that are the guitar’s
greatest strengths.
The Verdict
Batson’s quest to create a better-sounding
guitar through unconventional bracing
and other non-dogmatic design moves
pays off in a guitar that’s full of character
and responsive to nuanced playing. In that
sense, it’s a fantastic fingerstyle guitar, and if
the soft midrange of our mahogany model
is a deterrent to fingerstylists that crave
popping mids, the rosewood-backed version
may well do the trick.
If there’s any one beef to pick with this
Batson, it’s that, at $2800, it’s still a bit
pricey for what’s ostensibly a more affordable
guitar. That said, an American-made,
handbuilt guitar is rarely an inexpensive
proposition, and innovation doesn’t come
cheap. And, if you’re jazzed about the
potential of evolutionary guitar engineering
and creative woodwork, you’ll consider
the No. 5 a piece of art just as much as you
consider it an instrument.
Buy if...
your need for a sweet-sounding fingerstyle machine are matched by a thirst for artful, innovative design.
Skip if...
you wish they’d stopped tweaking the look of git-fiddles back in ’32!
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